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Reinsurance and Policy Provisions (Hannover Financing Arrangements) (Details) - 2013 Hannover Reinsurance Agreement [Member] - USD ($) $ in Millions	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015
Ceded Credit Risk [Line Items]
Waived surrender charges on penalty free withdrawals and deaths on certain business, percentage	45.60%
Reserve credit	$ 737.3	$ 638.1
Risk charges	$ 28.5	$ 27.7	$ 21.0

X

- Definition

This amount represents a statutory reserve credit taken related to a reinsurance agreement that is accounted for as reinsurance in accordance with statutory accounting principles.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	ael_ReinsuranceReserveCredit
Namespace Prefix:	ael_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

X

- Definition

Item represents a risk charge percentage that is applied to the oustanding loss carry forward (LCF) to determine the amount due at the end of each accounting period (quarter).

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	ael_ReinsuranceRiskCharge
Namespace Prefix:	ael_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

X

- Definition

Item represents the percentage of coverage provided by the 2005 Hannover Reinsurance Agreement on certain business of waived surrender charges related to penalty free withdrawals and deaths.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	ael_ReinsuranceWaivedSurrenderChargesOnPenaltyFreeWithdrawalsAndDeathsOnCertainBusinessPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	ael_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

X

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_CededCreditRiskLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

X

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_CededCreditRiskAxis=ael_Reinsurance2013HannoverReinsuranceAgreementMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: